Facebook unwelcome in Vietnam, but Zuckerberg OK

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam may block its citizens from using Facebook, but that didn't stop website founder Mark Zuckerberg from vacationing in the communist country.

Zuckerberg spent Christmas Eve in the popular tourist destination Ha Long Bay, local official Trinh Dang Thanh says.

State-run media say Zuckerberg arrived in Vietnam on Dec. 22.

Zuckerberg spent Christmas Day at an ecolodge in the northern mountain town of Sapa and rode a buffalo, said Le Phuc Thien, deputy manager at Topas Ecolodge.

Zuckerberg, Facebook's 27-year-old CEO, founded the social networking site in 2004.

Vietnam's aggressive Internet censors block access to Facebook and other websites, but young Vietnamese easily bypass the restrictions.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Microsoft boss Bill Gates signals end of the computer mouse

Microsoft boss Bill Gates signals end of the computer mouse
By Tom Peterkin

Microsoft is developing a new touch screen operating system that could mean the end of the computer mouse, Bill Gates has announced.

Bill Gates says interaction with computers will change dramatically
Windows 7 aims to build on the success of the touch screen systems developed by Microsoft's rival Apple's iPhone.

Microsoft users will issue commands by touching the screen rather than by the traditional keyboard and mouse combination, which has dominated since the 1970s.

Windows 7 is due to be released in 2010 and is Microsoft's attempt to catch-up with Apple, whose handheld iPhone has proved exceptionally popular.

Amazon to launch streaming video

Amazon.com, the largest internet retailer, will launch a streaming video service in the next few weeks to augment its digital offerings, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.

Jeff Bezos, speaking at The Wall Street Journal's three-day D: All Things Digital conference taking place north of San Diego, did not elaborate, and a company spokeswoman would not provide more information.

The Seattle-based company has been beefing up its digital media offerings in order to better compete with rivals such as Apple, which dominates the category with the popular iTunes music download service.

Besides recently launching an electronic book reader, the Kindle, Amazon has been building a digital music store and now offers downloadable movies, television shows and videos on its website.

It also has a deal with TiVo, maker of the popular digital video recorder, that allows users to rent videos from Amazon's Unbox service and watch them on their televisions.

Amazon is not alone in looking at streaming online video, allowing viewers to essentially rent movies via the Web rather than download large files to store on personal computers or other devices.

On Wednesday, the chief executive of DVD-by-mail company Netflix, Reed Hastings, said the company is currently funding streaming video in order to "give us years of subscriber and earnings expansion." Hastings spoke at the company's investor day in San Francisco.

"Once we're in streaming ... we can attract well beyond 20 million subscribers worldwide," Hastings said.

Reuters